


The Unwilling Worker

by Valadilen



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputation, Cerberus - Freeform, Escape, Espionage, Human Experimentation, Investigations, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Mass Effect - Freeform, Mass Effect 2, Medical Experimentation, Medical Procedures, Medical Torture, Medical Trauma, Mention of Child Abuse, Murder, Mystery, POV First Person, Paranoia, Past Child Abuse, Past Violence, Prosthesis, mention of rape, no scenes of rape, prosthetic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:09:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23498800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valadilen/pseuds/Valadilen
Summary: Miss Emilie Racine is one of the best when it come to creat intricate prosthesis for amputee. When the company she works for, NewLI, sends her to Zorya for a project with new associate, she notices things are not happening how they are supposed to. Is she really working on a legal project? Who do her coworkers truely work for?Trapped on a remote planet, she'll have to outsmart her jailors to see her family again.





	1. It was supposed to be a good deal

**Author's Note:**

> Caution: mention of child abuse and rape.  
> Some descriptions can be disturbing for some readers. Although it is not hardcore, readers' discretion is advised.

My name is Emilie Racine, specialist in prosthetics research and built, working for the Company NewLI. It was founded right after the First Contact War, when soldiers with new kind of injuries started to fill the hospitals, with many becoming amputees. Their goal: making state-of-the-art medical equipment, always up to date, minimum maintenance, maximum efficiency. Bloody expensive, but it’s worth it.

Until recently.

I’ve worked for this company for three years, at the shop on the Citadel. I was told hat I was the best in my field, but I never believed it –still don’t—even when Mr Tolki, the CEO, called himself to congratulate me on an exceptional promotion. My paycheck went up from 2 500 credit per month to 50 000 credits per month and I was to join a special project with new associates of NewLI, on a remote planet called Zorya in the Faia System, in the Attican Traverse. In other words, on the other side of the galaxy from the Citadel. Going there was not my choice, but the money was good and I wanted my mother back on Earth to have comfort. Of course, I did have to care for her: she was doing just fine with her savings, her health being good so far. But I always felt the need to give back all that she gave me all those years. Stupid. Children have to care for their parents when they can no longer take care of themselves. The rest was good but not an obligation.

The money was good. My mother was going to live with comfort for the rest of her life. So, I took the promotion, the job and the risk to travel on the other side of the Galaxy.

Now, I wish I hadn’t.

Zorya was a gorgeous planet, a bit hot for my standards, but nothing unbearable. The facility I was working in had nothing but jungle around it. The building was huge, ultra-modern; it was meant to be a retirement home for injured soldier, traumatized people of all kind… all the patients were here for free, curtesy of the NewLI and its associates; since the work done here was mostly experimental. All the patients were amputees one way of the other: feet, legs, hands, arms, entire lower body, eyes, nose, face, organs…

“ _Salut Maman_ ,” I said on the phone, once the shuttle had drop me. “I’m fine, I just arrive. The place is beautiful! The journey went well, nothing of interest happened. I call you once I’m settled? Cool! ‘Love you _Maman_.”

I loved my mother. I thought as I presented myself to the agent at the door, who was apparently waiting for me. I never saw a problem with loving her. Meeting her was pure joy, leaving her was extremely hard. But leaving was necessary: I needed to do things, to walk my path, but also to know that if she ever needed it, I could provide her financial support. This job was that. It was also making sure those people, those patients, came back to their families comfortable in their own body and happier.

The agent was a tall man, dressed in the uniform for administrators, although presented himself as being the go-to gentleman for questions of all sorts, requisition, day-to-day organization and liaison between professionals and patients and NewLI and the collaborators. Those were three smaller companies called Khan Laboratories (pharmaceutical), Lena Marinca Foundation (financial support for injured children from war zones), Meza Industries (medical equipment optimization).

“As for my name, I am Raj, pleasure to meet you, Miss Racine.”

“The pleasure is mine.” I said, giving back his smile.

Raj seemed to be a good man. Closing on his forties, he was the type to forget to shave because of work, to forget to sleep because of work; yet was always ready for a challenge, nice, welcoming. He showed me my room after giving me a quick tour. The place was empty if not for the fellow workers familiarizing themselves with the whole facility. They looked to be doctors, scientist, nurses and auxiliary nurses, janitors, administration agents, cooks, even a gardener and a lot of security agents.

“Why so much security?” I asked.

Mr Raj answered the question with a frustration sigh. Three days ago, a hostiles group was spotted on the other side of the planet. Even with the distance, such group could cause problems if they wanted to. Since it was too late to call the whole project off, the companies in charge thought it would be easier to hire extra-security. If need be, Captain Hannah Powell, the head of security, will call an emergency evacuation. So far, the mercenaries did not seem to notice the high-tech medical facility or at least did not show any signs of interest so far. As long as they remained distant neighbors, there was no reason for worry. Also, the non-human security measures were quite impressive: surveillance cameras, movement sensors outside of the hospital area, mechs, automated turrets freshly installed on the roofs… Hopefully no one will play with their systems and get everyone killed.

“You have of course free access to the extranet. Although if you want to make an extra-planetary call, you’ll have to use the lines in the administration office: we can’t manage to make the others work. Of course, we only ask you not to abuse of it. As far as I know, the ladies from HR want to keep it at an hour per week. I’m not sure how they want to keep the people here sane, cause the problem also concern our patient. Some of them are children: they’ll need to call their parents!”

That surprised me. I thought the parents were allowed to stay onsite to accompany their children. Apparently not.

Mr Raj showed me my room, then left me with the rules & missions’ booklet to study before starting to work.

My room was small but comfortable, in the far corner of the building. Once window gave a panoramic view on the jungle and sunset, while the other one gave a peaceful view on natural cliffs invaded by vegetation. The waterfall jumping from the top of one of them competed the picture of a paradise far from Earth.

My working hours were between 8:30 to 11:30 and 13:00 to 18:00; from Monday to Friday with a possibility to be called upon emergencies during the weekend. It was Thursday, 19:48; thus, only started work tomorrow morning. Breakfast were between 6:00 to 9:30, lunch between 11:30 and 14:00 and diner between 18:30 and 20:00. There was a curfew at 20:20, because of those hostile mercenaries on the planet.

I was allowed to leave the planet for paid leave seven days every month. My new contract insisted on my discretion: for industrial secrecy reasons, I was not allowed to talk about my work here on Zorya, since there was going to be patient, I had to be quiet about their identity and personal information as well.

The person in charge of the project was onsite. Her name was Dr Felicity Hall. I wrote down her name on the extranet. She was a public hospital director in New York, Earth, before leaving public care life behind. Bad administration, few resources, gargantuan work… all that burnt her pretty bad. After a two-years long pause, she was hired by various pharmaceutical companies and laboratories; before being spotted by the Khan Laboratories. Her ethics were impeccable, her credentials seemed close to perfection. On the extranet, anyone who met her seemed to like her a lot, or at least she made a good impression on them.

As for Captain Hannah Powell, the Chief of Security, she started as an Alliance officer. She left the army and did some jobs as personal bodyguard then was hired as captain by the Mavric Security Company; which NewLI & Co hired to protect the facility on Zorya. Her credential was good, but everything else about her was classified. Odd given her delicate role in the ecosystem of the facility. Most security companies let basic information out to show the honesty of their employees: there were no details about Captain Powell. No place of birth, no chronology, no name of companies outside of the one she was currently working for, not even the name and source of those credentials; nothing.

I was picked by curiosity. I liked to know who I’m working with. Everybody had secrets; I was fine with that. But the basics are a must.

Raj. Nothing. No other names, no date of birth, no place of birth. He did some jobs as administrator on Eden Prime before moving to the Citadel. No reasons, no details. Then he magically appeared here, on Zorya.

In the list of colleagues, two familiar names came up: Park Si-won and Gabriela Ortiz. They were from NewLI. I knew the first quite well: we worked together on a few projects before changing branch: he went into biotic implant while I specialized in prosthetics. The second was more distant in my memories. I’ve never met her in person, but she was the employee of the year, every year, for the last decade. A stern woman if I recalled right. Strict, not likely the nicest woman in the galaxy. She was famous for many things; which I truly don’t care talking about, because when it came to prosthetics, she was as lost as a sea fish on a mountain.

Still, it was good to know I wasn’t the only one from the company working here.


	2. Workshops and taugh read

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After settling in the facility on Zorya, I had to start to work, in my workshop...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but hopefully interesting.

The planet was beautiful, the workshop given to me was gorgeous. I could make whatever I wanted, without looking at the cost and without being red taped by regulations but the once concerning security. No paperwork overtime I want to had a screw to a mechanical hand or for installing one of the already approved plug-ins for better control of toes movement on a leg. When I sat behind my desk, I vaguely wondered if it was legal. All the documentation about the project said it was. The objective of this ten-years project was to improve medical implants and prosthetics for extreme amputee cases: bad cases of phantoms pains, extreme amputations, disfiguration, that sort of problems.

I already had two patients. A twenty-seven years old man name Hans Molenveld, from Germany, Earth, former Corporal in the Alliance. He was blown up by an explosion due to a mid-air collision of two shuttles while on shore leave in Los Angeles. He lost his two legs, part of his hipbone and four fingers on his right hand.

The second patient was an eleven years old girl, orphan since a batarian pirate hit against her colony settlement. She was sold in the sex-slave ring; raped by several slavers before being brutally beat-up y one of them and left of dead in a gutter on the Citadel. C-sec officers found her –alive—and brought her to the hospital. She was then given to a foster-family, but the extent of her injuries was too great for them and her own sanity. Only she knew why her last jailer did this to her, but she did not speak a word those last three years. The right side of her face was gone, as well as the right arm and the right leg. She was missing a kidney and part of her liver, as well as her uterus which had to be surgically removed due to the extent of the damage her body was in when found.

 _Merde._ I thought, disgusted by her whole story. It reminded me why I decided to work in public care in the first place; but those words were very difficult to read. Even if I do not wish this fate to anyone, I had to check a couple time this patient age. Eleven years old. The records were not mistaking. Shit. What was her name? Clara Mulligan. I memorized this name and put it in my heart. She was going to leave this planet whole again; or at least a bit more comfortable.

“Hello, you.” The accent made me smile.

Korean with a bit of Chinese. I turned and saw Park Si-won standing at the door, all smile.

“Hello, you.” I replied.

I stood up to meet him. Si-won was a good man. Proud father-hen of three girls, he worked really hard to provide for them. Last time I saw him, his daughters were but a year old. Now, they had to be around seven years old.

“I knew I recognized that name.” He commented. “How’s life treating you?”

“With the paycheck from that project: life is treating me just fine.” I said. “How about you?”

“I miss my girls, but this job is important.” He explained, sitting on one of the stools. “You got a nice place here!”

“Yup. Best workshop of my career so far. How about you?”

“I had far worst.” He laughed. “Can’t complain with the equipment, but Ortiz can be real piece of work. I’ve worked with that woman for five years now and she’s still a horrible woman. That poll up her ass is going to chock her one day.”

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at the imagine. Si-won always had a colorful language.


	3. The Pig & the Indifferent Sloth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am ready to installed the base for a prosthesis on Mr Molenveld, but things always are more difficult than anticipated.

I’ve met my two patients later that day, then started to work from the cast the technicians took of their bodies. Molenveld was quickly done, but I was not looking forward to see him again. Mr Molenveld turned out to be a pig with everybody: his doctor, Dr Henry Carlson, the nurses, the janitors... When he asked if I would be willing “to dance on his pool”, I took out the biggest drill-shaped screwdriver from my toolbox and activated it a few times, making a loud high-pitch drilling noise. Then I looked at him with the biggest fake smiled I had in store. He was not smiling anymore. He had lost all his colors and realized that the medical team was like a tattoo artist: don’t fuck with them, or you might end up with more than you bargained for.

  
He regretted his behavior even more when I “forgot” to give him ear plugs.

  
The doctor was assisting the procedure. I was installing the base, which linked the prosthetics to the nerve system. It was a difficult operation for the technician such as myself, but most of all for the patient. This time especially. The doctor was in charge of the anesthesia. It was supposed to be strong enough to knock out the nerves for a few hours without taking the patient consciousness. It was traumatic if the procedure was close to the face, but necessary because the patient had to speak to me, to tell me if he or she felt that something was wrong. The only reason why I would ask a patient to be complete asleep would be for children or life-threatening operations. It wasn’t the case for Molenveld, thus he was aware of his surroundings.

  
Now… My patients tend to panic at least once during the three-hour minimum procedure. Of course! It is a traumatic experience, no one can blame them. However, they always find within themselves the power to calm down, or are motivated to calm down with our words.

However... Molenveld was either the greatest coward in the world or he was in a great deal of pain. I never heard a grown man scream and cry that much during a procedure.

  
“Are the painkillers working?” I asked, an hour in the operation.

“They are.” Replied Dr Carlson after checking the monitors. “He suffered from phantom pains. Perhaps they are kicking in?”

I watched him making test from the corner of my eyes as I installed the complicated base of his hipbone, which was also suppose to linked the rest of the leg. Molenveld would not stop screaming, even after a few tries from the doctor. Something was off.

“Alright, let’s stop it here.” I said once the base on the hip was ready. “Either we make him sleep or we continue tomorrow.”  
“ _Tomorrow?!_ ” Screamed Molenveld.

Dr Carlson studied the test results and the monitors.

“Tomorrow will be best.” He said. “I’m not sure I like what I’m seeing here.”  
“Can we continue at all?” I asked.  
“I’m going to study all this carefully, and come back to you. You’ll have an answer tonight, Miss Racine.”

  
Very well… I thought. Dr Henry Carlson was a quiet doctor, very intelligent and thoughtful. However, he was rubbing me the wrong way. I’m not questioning his skills; only his ethics. For someone in a room with a man screaming to death, he was awfully calm; indifferent even. Or perhaps it was the type of test he ran? I did not recognize them at all.

  
If it was up to me, I would have finished the job now by putting Molenveld in deep sleep. Though I had to trust the doctor, since I had neither the competence nor the authority to make such decision.


	4. Broken Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Working with children is always difficult.

Clara Mulligan.  
I have seen many things in my life. Working with amputees is not an easy job. Some stumps are quite ugly, the damage on body can be huge, the mental health of the patient precarious. Of course, when it’s a child who has to face this, it’s always more difficult for me. I, like many professionals, should be the last person a child meets in his or her young life.

  
Clara Mulligan.  
I’ve worked with children before. Not even them are safe from a home incident, a car crash, an explosion, sicknesses and health problems.

  
Clara Mulligan.  
There was a child I’ll never be able to forget, no matter how much I would like to. Reading her dossier was difficult. Looking at her was even more so.

  
If there was a living empty shell in this world, aware but absent, it was this girl. Long blond hair falling on her face, a nurse working on cutting them short to make thing easier for everybody. A big green eye half closed, sitting next to a whole in the face, filled with tubs and… things to keep the tissue fresh and alive for the base of the facial prosthetic.

  
“She’s on painkiller since we worked on the tissue on her face.” The nurse explained. “Dr. Hall should arrive in a moment.”

  
I nodded. I needed time to prepare anyway. I set up the operation table with the nurse, readied the base, my tool. Would it fit? I used the scan of my omnitool to measure my work once again. It was a perfect fit, according to the computer. Only the operation will tell us for sure. The nurse prepared the girl for complete anesthesia. I was not going to work on Clara Mulligan if she was looking at me.

  
“Hello!”  
It was a tall woman, strong, hair ties in a ponytail, tainted in blond. She was wearing glass, a white coat and a stethoscope around her neck. She walked to me to shake my hand.

  
“I’m Dr Hall, pleasure to meet you, Miss Racine. I heard you are one of the best.”  
“So, I heard.” I stuttered a little. “I suppose we’ll see.”  
“Is Miss Mulligan the toughest patient you’ll have to fix?”  
“Most definitely.”  
“It’s going to be fine.” Smiled the Dr Hall.

  
She checked Clara Mulligan, then started the anesthesia. We waited long hours before I got the green light. With the doctor and the nurse, I worked my way around the tubes, the strings and the medical contraption on little Clara’s butchered face.

  
After an hour and a half, I made a short break of five minutes. The Dr Hall was busy monitoring the situation and… making those strange tests.

  
“What are you doing?” I asked, using my genuinely curious voice, showing my interest.  
“Routine tests.” She replied, focused.  
“Did they change? The doctors back on the Citadel were working differently if I recall correctly.”

  
Dr Hall turned to me. I saw a flash of something in her eyes, but it lasted only a second. Her smiled was intact, although a bit stiff.

  
“They are new asari techniques.” She explained. “Less intrusive, more precise. It cut my work time by three!”  
“Incredible.” I said a bit emotionless, while getting back to work.


	5. The Fool and the Brave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you know something is wrong, and you are not alone.

A new asari techniques? Was she taking me for an idiot? I wasn’t born yesterday! I’ve been doing my job long enough to know how it’s done –both my part and the doctor’s. There is no room for improvisation in an active medical operation. What are those doctors thinking? First Carlson, then Hall! That Carlson does it is not surprising: there is always an idiot in the medical team. But Hall? She’s the bloody directress of the establishment, she’s the leader of this project. What on Earth was going on?

  
I was lying on my bed. The sun just left the sky. Nobody was outside.  
It has been a week since I worked on Clara Mulligan; two since I set foot here. There was something off here. I asked Si-won the other day if everything was okay on his end; without telling him my suspicion. He told me that Ortiz was more and more strange. Not nervous, but authoritarian, blunt in her methods.

  
My omnitool rang. The phones were not working, but the shortrange communication omnitool to omnitool still worked. Si-won’s room wasn’t far from mine.

  
“Si-won?” I said.  
“ _Do you remember when I told you Ortiz was becoming Kim Jong-Un?_ ” He asked, tension in his voice.  
He did not say it in those terms, but I understood his meaning.  
“ _There is more to this project that we know off. Ortiz asked me to improve one of the implants I created; To make it more powerful. I've checked in the specification of the implant and apparently, I truly have to do that. The implant in question is meant to allow the user to use biotics abilities to support body weight when walking. It’s meant for tetraplegics. The modifications they are asking me are military grade!_ ”

  
My blood froze. Si-won never lied about his job: it was as important as his daughters.

  
“What are you going to do?” I asked, eaten my worry.  
“ _Discover what’s going on._ ” He said. “ _There is something terribly wrong with this project. I’m going to uncover it and expose it to the world._ ”  
“Sweet Mother! Be careful!”  
“ _You know I will!_ ”

  
Yes. I knew that Si-won was a very cautious man. But I also knew he was going to get himself in a lot of trouble if he ever got caught. I saw a doctor making experimental tests on a child’s badly damaged body, without informing me, who was standing right there. Dr Hall used my operation to do something that was more than questionable. At a dozen rules and laws from Earth and Council Space forbid to do such without the presence of the child’s official guardian. The nurse, the doctor and I were not guardians.

  
“ _Someone’s trying to reach me. I’ll talk to you tomorrow_.”  
“Sure. See you tomorrow.”

  
If only…


	6. Where is Si-won?

That night I did not sleep well. Right after Si-won hung up, I spotted something unusual outside. The sun was behind the line of the trees now… yet there were lights, like flashlights, outside of the garden. I turned off the light in my room.  
Armed men. With a group of people: humans as far as I can tell. Mercenaries? No, their armor looked too sophisticated. I look at the garden where a security officer was keeping watch. He was wearing a heavy-looking white and black armor with a bit of orange; the colors of the uniforms of the facility. The shape of the armor was similar to the ones worn by the intruders.  
In what trouble did I let myself get into?  
I fell asleep with that thought in mind. Not the best fuel for dreams. The next morning, I did not see Si-won in the mess hall. Nor for lunch. In the afternoon, I made some room in my agenda to go visit him in his laboratory. I had two more patients with minor injuries. Working on their prosthesis were not a top priority like Clara’s or Molenveld. I would keep working on their equipment if I had to installed those quickly. But the doctors, with all their flaws, made to smart decision to wait for the patients to adapt to the bases.  
At Si-won’s lab, I was greeted by a cold and rude Gabriela Ortiz, with who he was sharing his workplace. She used the opportunity to tell me that she disliked people slacking on the job. She added, while I looked around, that I was pathetic to believe my job was as important as hers. She had a lot of things to say! It would have been interesting to listen to her if I cared. I did not. All I could hear was a woman aging faster than she’ll like and was trying to buy more time to do great discoveries for humanity by pushing down any potential threats to her career. Why I was a threat remained a mystery I did not care to unveil. Whatever! Her opinions mattered not.  
Si-won was a coffee addict. He loved it burning hot, the sort of temperature that could give third degree burns not anyone who’s not him. He loved it extremely bitter too, with thirteen sugar cubes. How could he drink such disgusting mixture was beyond me. He loved his so-called coffee as much as he loved his family. His mug was half-emptied and cold on his desk. I brought it to my nose. It didn’t smell like coffee. Or perhaps it was the smell it was supposed to have when it spent several hours untouched? Anyway: unusual. Even if he was called for an emergency Si-won would have finished his mug. I looked at Mrs Ortiz. The hag was absorbed in her work, not caring one bit of me. Ignoring her made her go back to her duties. Good.  
I left the lab with the mug of coffee, after copying Si-won’s files from his computer into my omnitool. I had a bad feeling about all this. Best to be prepared.

I went straight to my workshop. Due to the electronical aspect of my workpieces, I sometimes had to manipulate dangerous component like element zero. To ensure it was pure, I had to test the chemicals I wanted to use three times. Thus, I had in my workshop the equipment to do the tests, in complete autonomy. Today, the analyzing machines and protocols were going to give me the exact components of Si-won’s coffee. It would a least a day to get a complete list, but I felt it was necessary. Once done, I would know for sure if something happened to Si-won: was he drugged and dragged somewhere beyond my knowledge? Or worse… did someone poisoned him? Third possible hypothesis: something happened to him, but the person responsible did not used the coffee. Fourth: nothing happened to Si-won, he’s in the medbay because of food poisoning or a small injury after falling in the stairs… Did someone push him? No! Stop! Proof first, crazy conspiracy theories later.  
Ortiz gave me no direction as to where Si-won was; she simply said he did not show up at all. Leaving my workshop, which I locked behind me, I went to one of my new patients et get measurements. This time, it was a nineteen-year-old girl with tattoos, piercings, way to much make-up and the attitude of a rich daddy’s princess. Her name was Miss Gwen Hoch. She mumbled a ‘hello’ when I arrived, barely noticed me while I was inspecting what was left of her foot; more interested by her followers on whatever-social-media she was using on her omnitool.

Once I had what I needed, I left the room and headed to the parc. Across it was the medbay for the employees. If Si-won was there, then I could give him a stern talk about scaring the hell out of me. If he was not in the med-bay, then I’ll give him a stern talk about scaring the hell out of me later… If he was still alive. Who knows on those remote planet in the Terminus system.  
There was nobody in the infirmary except for a sick janitor and an injured security officer. The first one was fast asleep with a breathing mask on his nose. He probably stood too close to his own cleaning product. The second was lying on a bed on the far side of the med-bay. He was wearing the white, black and orange under-armor uniform. Black skin, brown eyes, a moon tattoo on the back of his left hand. He was trying not to make a face, but pain was plaguing every cell of his body.

“How do you feel?” I asked.  
“I’ve been better.” He said. “You know when the Doc’ will be back?”  
“No. I was hoping to find a colleague here. Have you seen an Asian man called Park Si-won?”  
“Nope. Sorry.” Mumbled the man between his teeth.  
“If you don’t mind me asking: what happened to you?”  
He had a long moment of silence, before answering my question. He was either in great pain or he was using that pain to buy time to get an idea for a lie.  
“Mercs from the over side of the planet last night.” He said. “Recon team, I went too close.”

 _Like Icarus I suppose_. The man was burnt at the legs. Nothing major, but enough to be extremely uncomfortable. I certainly did not want to be in his place.

Last night. As I left the infirmary, I tried to remember what I saw last night. Some of the security guards were escorting a group of people around the park under my window. Was the man among them? If he was, were those people mercenaries? They did not look like mercenaries –not that I knew what a mercenary is supposed to look like: asari could be mercenaries, yet they look nothing like a krogan, a turian or a human… Interesting. I sat on one of the benches in the parc. Patients were doing some exercises with professionals. A talking group: three girls, two boy, one man. All humans. A patient and her nurse: two humans. A few doctors smoking on the side: all humans.  
There were no aliens here. Most hospitals had now at least one asari or salarian scientist in the team. I saw none. It has been weeks since I arrived, and I’ve met no aliens. NewLI was proud to be a company from Earth for Earth, but I’ve worked with many different species during my contract with them. Asari expertise is a treasure! Often said Mr Tolki. Salarians are an infinite source of creativity and professionalism! If so, why was there none here? Are the new associates anti-alien? If it was the case, I needed to be careful. I am very much human; but I was sympathetic to aliens. This feeling was not exactly a secret.

I spent the rest of the day in my workshop. There was in my omnitool a lot of data from Si-won’s computer. At my greatest surprise, most folders were encrypted. My friend was good with codes, but I did not expect such complexity. My own skills will be challenged if I wanted to know what those data contained. I was about the download everything on my own computer when I stopped myself. If something happened to Si-won and nobody seemed to care as much as I did, perhaps it was best to assume that nothing was safe. I kept the data in my omnitool. It would take days for it to decrypt everything, but it was better than having the information in a few hours and not living long enough to read them.

This thought made me look at my lab which was still analysing the coffee. Did I make a mistake? Could whoever was doing something shifty spy through those machines? If they could, it was already too late. Best to think of a justification now, in case someone starts asking question. In which case, it would only confirm my theory about being spied on.


	7. Data, clues and pieces of the puzzle

At the end of the third day without Si-won, I had plenty of data on hand. Thus I decided to put them together in my room, after diner.

The coffee presented a high concentration of sugar, coffee beans, water and minerals from those three elements. It was also composed with NT6-0v4, valkern 04 and TeW-7U. Three elements you don’t usually find in food for humans.

  * NT6-0v4 was used in the synthetization of a plant from Tuchanka. That alone is suspicious, but it’s even more when you find it in coffee; since this plant is mostly used as a painkiller for Krogans with extensive nerve damaged. In its natural form, one leaf is enough to kill the entire crew of an Alliance cruiser. The NT6-0v4 is not as toxic, but still was dangerous. From what my analysis showed, there was not enough of it to kill Si-won, and just enough to make him sick.
  * Valkern 04 was, unfortunately the most suspicious element in this coffee. It was of batarian origins. Poison, even for them. In fact, if my history if correct, the batarian special forces created this poison to eliminate political rivals and terrorist among their own population. Later, during the First Contact War, the batarian filled their bullets with it to make sure the human taking it would die in the hour, even with just a scratch. That thing was nasty, or so I heard. It makes the victim vomit guts for hours, creates cramps, headache. The eyes turn yellow before completely loosing sight, then it was the slow but certain shut down of the body. Vital organs failures before heart attack or brain hyperactivity leading to death. The minimal measurement to make this poison deadly was 0,5ml. In this coffee there was 0,003ml for 200cl of coffee. Enough to make Si-won extremely sick.
  * TeW-7U was one of the elements used to make synthetic dextro food. Food for turians and quarians. People don’t die by ingesting those in a small quantity but were definitely going to spend the next six hours in the bathroom.



  
I tried to run scenarios in my head. Having the non-linear thought process of a salarian would have been great! Alas, I was but a simple, average human woman with a memory slightly better than the rest of my kind (although not much better) and neural connections somewhat more efficient.

Si-won drank at least 120cl of spiked coffee. Thus, fell ill. Could the poisons interact with each other and make the effect more or less potent? Could they interact with the coffee and/or sugar? Did the temperature of the coffee, which Si-won preferred burning hot, limit or worsen the effects? Whatever the effects, Si-won could not have dealt with the symptoms alone. He had to go to the infirmary between the night he called and the next morning. Yet the injured security guard said that he was injured during the night by a mercenary (do I believe him?). If so, he must have seen Si-won in the med-bay. One detail made its way on the top of my brain: the doctor. The guard asked where the doctor was coming back. From the state of his injuries, the doctor did not intervene. Was it safe to assume the doctor never showed up? When I visit the medbay, it was mid-afternoon. Did the doctor also disappear?

I looked into the hospital booklet. The employees’ doctor was a woman named Angela Bakay. Forty-six years old, used to serve in the Alliance before leaving for civilian public care, on Earth, then on the Citadel. Side of her good credential, there was nothing outstanding about her. Although… why did she leave a good place in the hospital to come work in the middle of nowhere, to be only the employees’ doctor for a small project?

A small project with lots of shady corners. According to the data found on Si-won’s computer, his research were indeed military grade brain implants for the use of biotic. Not only the person was able to use a lot of biotic power without being predestined to its use; but the person would be less affected by physical pains during combat and mental exhaustion. This implant was, according to the requirement booklet and Si-won report, compatible with military-grade spine implant which boost the production of blood if needed. I’ve never heard of such thing, but if the notes were honest, it would, in the end, make a man or a woman practically invincible; or at least very difficult to kill.

This part of Si-won work could not possibly be part of an Alliance super-soldier project. The space-navy was far too honest finance this sort of things but hide its tracks. Everything had to be done by the book.  
I read the data again, looking for a clue about the person behind the order. It was not the Alliance: no logo, no names, no titles lead to the army. There was a video I had yet to watch. Si-won called it “the Girls’ birthday”. It must be for his daughters… yet why would he encrypt it? The man talked about his family whenever he had a chance! I clicked on the video.

On the screen of my omnitool appeared Park Si-won.  
“ _I just finished a call with my friend Emilie. She’s not with them, it’s reassuring._ ” He said. Apparently, I found his journal. “ _Then I had a visit from Raj. Pure coincidence, but both reassuring and worrying. Reassuring because what he said confirmed I was not going paranoiac. Worrying because what he suggested reminded me of those stories we hear from people who escaped Cerberus. Raj wanted t remind me about the discretion, which is part of the contract. Sure, the ‘contract’. The contract does not involve committing a crime unwillingly. If a terrorist organization is involve and I do nothing, Emilie and I could end up in prison for the rest of our lives; or worse: dead._ ”

When the video stopped, a second one appeared. I watch it.  
“ _Someone spiked my coffee I think. I'm so sick... It cannot be a coincidence. Still... I got something good out of it. I’ve met the employees’ doctor. She’s with the Alliance; spying on Ceberus! Another confirmation that Cerberus is involved. But I’ve made a mistake. With Raj, I questioned too much. Worse: I called her about my suspicion while in my office. I’m pretty sure Ortiz heard me. She must be Cerberus because ever since I have extra shadows following me everywhere. I’ve stayed away from Emilie as much as I could. She’s looking for me. I must find a way to lure her out of this._ ”

A third video appeared. Si-won was in large vegetation. There was a woman next to him, unconscious. He looked pale, sick, exhausted.  
“ _Emilie, I know you’ll find this. Get this video to the Alliance. It’s too late for me, Cerberus tried to kill me twice with morning: with my own coffee and my breakfast. I saw guards escorting kids in the building in the back, I’ve filmed everything. So, I tried to have a looked, hacked the security cameras. I was sloppy. They found my software. But I still got a few things. Do watch them, Emilie. For your own good, don’t watch them._  
 _Also, go on vacation. It’s your only way out of this planet. Do it fast. Don’t mind me, it’s too late. Tell my girls I love them. Tell Hannah I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry._ ”

  
I turned off my omnitool. Then turned it back on to watch those videos. Watching them made me sick. Teenagers and young adutls, being altered with _my tech._ People I've never met before studying them, making modifications, making them fight. Those same people meeting with Dr Hall or Captain Powell. Dr Calrson landing a hand. Molenveld breaking a kid's neck with biotics he did not have before.. _._ I felt sick a couple of times. I had to leave my room to vomit in the bathroom.

I had to leave.

Period.


	8. The game of cats and the mouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or Emilie Racine being the mouse in a house full of cats.

I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t leave either. The next shuttle was coming in two days. I had to keep living here two days, as if nothing happened. I thought about looking for Si-won in the area around the hospital, but the security was insane. No one could sneak in or out of this place. And Raj was keeping an eye on the employees. The only positive thing about that was that he was not focused on me. Apparently, I was more careful than Si-won.

When I went to get breakfast, I discreetly checked my food. No poison. What was I going to say to Hannah? The girls? The man of their lives was dead somewhere on Zorya. No. I did not have to say anything. I already booked my vacation. As soon as I reach Council Space, I’ll find the nearest Alliance office and give everything I have on Cerberus. I was going to get myself killed. That much was certain. But I won’t give up until Si-won gets some kind of justice. The data and clues were very incriminating, but ultimately not enough. People could argue their veracity. I needed more. As I scanned the room, I wondered how I could get more information on Cerberus without dying in the process.  
Then it hit me.  
I had equipped patients with prosthesis for the last few weeks now. Some of them were already walking around. All the equipment I made had microchips, processors, electronic elements. I could, perhaps, had a few bits to it...  
I got to work immediately after breakfast, stopping myself from making tea or coffee. Despite being sleep deprived, I built four little devices; then called all four of the patience. My excuse was that I made a mistake in the making of their prosthesis and needed to fix it before they could feel any discomfort. Adding professional gibberish and none of them found within themself the will nor the need to question me. Good, because three of them brutally murdered three hardened mercenaries a couple nights ago. One word from whoever was making the calls and little old me would be meat on the floor.  
Once the patients were out in the wild again, thousand of data started to pour in my omnitool. All of it was encrypted, but my software could tell me when the locks were particularly insane. It would tag the data as potentially of cerberus origins. However, no matter if Cerberus wrote the data or not: the whole project was rotten because of their involvement. I’m not even sure it was ever clean.

“Are you alright, Miss Racine?”

I jumped in my sit.

It was Raj, standing next to the table I sat at in the mess hall during diner. My mind was still on those terrifying images Si-won did not want me to see. I remembered his warnings about Raj: he was not to be trusted.  
“I-I’am fine. I think one patient’s condition is getting to me.” I stuttered.  
That was not a lie. Clara Mulligan was still a mess, traumatized and shut down. Her disfigured face was not doing better with the on-going rebuilding process.  
“I miss home too. A great deal.”

That was not a lie either. I could kill to go back to my mother’s, hug her and cook for her and talking to her. My heart squeezed painfully everytime my mind would go down that road, as I knew all too well I’ll never see my mom again. Cerberus will kill me before I can reach Earth. Or kill her. Either way, anxiety was killing me right now.  
“You are from Earth, if I’m correct.” Raj said, sitting down, all smile as usual.  
“Yes. I asked for a break, a week or two. I can’t take the images out of my mind. I can’t make mistakes while making prosthesis.”  
“Indeed! I saw your demand: of course, we validated it!” Raj said. “We want the best for our employees.”  
“Thank you.”  
This was weird. I kept my eyes on my food that I barely touched. I was feeling sick.  
“Do you need to see a doctor?” Raj said.  
“No, thank you.” I said, as calmly as possible. “Anxiety takes my appetite away. I’ll be fine once I’m home. I’ll rest and be back to work in no time.”

Raj smiled. I wished I could break his white teeth and feed them to him.  
“I have a question for you.” Raj said, bringing a great deal of tension. “You know Mr Park quite well, yes?”  
“I… Yes, we’ve worked a few times together and remained in good terms. Why?” I said, before adding a bit of acting. “Is he alright?”  
“Yes, he’s quite alright.”

 _Liar_.  
“he seems to have a hard time keeping the nature of his work a secret.” He said. “Did he talk about it to you?”  
“Just a bit, when we debated about the best microchip for medical equipment on the market.” I lied. “I believe he did not like his coworker, Mrs Ortiz. Side of that, I don’t recall him telling me about his job. Is he in trouble?”  
“Nothing of the sort.” Raj smiled. “He has family, right? Do you know if he kept in touch with them a lot through the extranet?”

 _Nice try, you little shit._  
“I’m not intimate enough with him to know about his family life, Mr Raj.” I said, making that face people make when they think someone said something inappropriate. “I’m feeling uncomfortable. If you want to know about his private life, ask him directly. It’s certainly not my place to say.”

 _Eat that._ I thought. _Now you wish you didn’t kill him_.  
“Of course.” Raj said, awkward, disappointed but still smiling. “Where are my manners! I’m sorry for putting you in this delicate situation. Thank you for your time. I wish you a swift recovery, Miss Racine.”

I nodded as he left. my eyes followed him leaving, and met those of two security guards. They looked away quickly.

Great.

One day. Just one more day. Then I can leave this hell hole.


	9. Leaving everything

I had prepared my things during the night; making sure nothing of mine was left. I even implanted a virus in my workshop computers, to erase everything when it could no longer sense my omnitool’s presence. If I’m dead, Cerberus could not use the data I created for their dark project. If I escape, Cerberus could not use the data against me. Also, if I was walking to my death, I did not want to give Cerberus the satisfaction of keeping my things. It’s childish, of course, but what else could I do when sleep avoided me like the plague?

  
The shuttle was arriving at 14:05 and leaving at 14:20. I had to be on the dock at 13:45. I was counting the seconds; which made Time flow slower.

  
At 07:30, I was up, clean and ready to leave.  
At 08:00, I was finishing my breakfast, alone at my table.  
At 08:14, I spotted the guards watching again.  
At 08:19, I was in my office, working on some details that would never make it to Cerberus servers.  
At 09:34, Raj came to my office to express how sorry he felt about my much needed leave. Apparently, he did not realise how difficult my job could be. He wished me good luck way too many times to be honest.  
At 10:03, Captain Powell showed up in my office. She wanted to make sure I do not forget my discretion closure; that I remembered to leave all electronics belongings to the project on-site. I asked how was doing her man in the infirmary. She said he was doing much better and thanked me for caring. Her face was cold when she said those words. She was looking at me like a krogan suspicious of fowl-playing.  
At 10:30, I meet my patient, run down some tests, adjusted some bases or prosthetics.

  
At 11:57, I took my lunch, alone.  
At 12:03, I spotted the guards, watching me, again. They spoke to each other, received a message through their comms then disappeared.  
At 12:41, I left the dining room to get my things in my room. The guards were still following me, so I faked a short-range call with a colleague. If I was talking to someone, they could not attack me without giving themselves up.  
At 13:015, I went outside and locked myself in the public bathroom. I heard through the door some patients talking about how harsh their therapy was. Then some employees came over. Some talked about a rumor about Si-won leaving the project without notice; or was captured by mercenaries. Later, others employees from the administration division came. One told the other that an illusive man has ordered, this morning, my full cooperation or I would meet my fate, discreetly, since the whole operation is undercover. So far, I had done a pretty good job at being always in public.

  
At 14:00, I left the public bathroom and run to the shuttle bay; faking being late. The guards could not keep up without looking suspicious: there were still a lot of people around. I went through the automated security which, thank God!, had not the same orders than the organics.  
At 14:15, I found my place in the line to the shuttle, among other people going off-world.  
At 14:20, I was sitting in the shuttle, watching the medical facility becoming small. When we reached the ship for the Council Space, My omnitool notified me that my virus took effect. My computers back on-world were completely destroyed. Anyone else would I rejoice: I escaped Cerberus! Or did I? There was a woman watching me since we took the shuttle; and no one could ever truly escape Cerberus.

To avoid trouble with that woman, I moved into a quiet corner in the mess hall. there were a lot of civilians from everywhere in the Terminus system. I was safe enough, for now. During this borrowed time, I worked on another safety precaution. It started by encrypting all the data I’ve collected those last weeks, including Si-won’s. Then I fragmented it in four parts. the last part of my project was to program those parts. When I’ll reach the Council Space, the four pieces of encrypted data will send themselves in four random location within the Alliance and the Council’s Network.

  
Once all those precaution were made, I looked around. the woman had moved too, so I would be in her line of sight.

  
I turn on my omnitool. Recording.

 _Maman_. I said. _I did the right thing, but it’s going to cost me…_

I talked to my omnitool, to my mother. I talked for hours. I told her about the project, about Cerberus, about Si-won, my fears, my hopes. I told her about my job, my life. It was a good life, but a short one. I told her how much I love her, how much knowing that she’ll be alone hurt me body and soul. I told how much I’ll miss her… How much I missed her already.  
The message will only trigger if my death was confirmed; in five years. Hopefully, the time gap will allow her to ear my message without becoming a Cerberus target.

I turned off my omnitool and looked at the window.

Space always was beautiful.


End file.
